Amphritea spongicola sp nov., isolated from a marine sponge, and emended description of the genus Amphritea

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped (1.2-2.1 mu m x 0.8-0.9 mu m), flagellated and motile marine bacterium, designated MEBiCO5461(T), was isolated from a marine sponge inhabiting Micronesia. Strain MEBiCO5461(T) was oxidase-negative and catalase-positive. Growth was observed at 8.0-35.6 degrees C (optimum 30.0 degrees C), at pH 5.0-9.0 (optimum pH 7.0) and with 1.5-6.0 % (w/v, optimum 2.0-2.5 %) NaCl. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain MEBiCO5461(T) showed high similarity to members of the genus Amphritea (96.4-96.6 %). The predominant cellular fatty acids were C-16:0 (23.9 %), summed feature 3 (C-16:1 omega 7c and/ or C-16:1 omega 6c; 39.7 %) and summed feature 8 (C-18:1 omega 7c and/or C-18:1 omega 6c; 22.0 %). The DNA G+C content was 48.5 mol%. The major respiratory quinone was Q-8. Phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified glycolipid, one unidentified aminolipid, one unidentified glycophospholipid and two unidentified lipids were detected as the major polar lipids. On the basis of the data from this polyphasic taxonomic study, strain MEBiCO5461(T) should be classified as a representative of a novel species in the genus Amphritea, and the name proposed is Amphritea spongicola sp. nov. The type strain is MEBiCO5461(T) (=KCCM 42943(T)=JCM 16668(T)). Emendations of the genus Amphritea and species Amphritea atlantica Gartner et al. 2008 and Amphritea balenae Miyazaki et al. 2008 are were also given.